Tag: Jane Lindskold

Three Honorverse stories is too few

I had high hopes on In Fire Forged to tide me over until the next Honorverse A Beautiful Friendship novel later this year. This fifth Worlds of Honor anthology is a bit short on stories although the three stories in there are pretty good I can’t avoid feeling a bit cheated. I expected a few more stories.

That said, they are longer than the usual short stories 60,70 and 140 pages long respective which I do like.

Ruthless by Jane Lindskold continues the story Promised Land about the refugees from Masada from the last anthologie. This one is about Judith Newland the amazing woman who learned to pilot in secret to escape. Now they are ‘safe’ on Manticore when her 2-year old daughter Ruth is kidnapped to force her dear friend crown prince Michael to disgrace himself and discredit the fragile agreement with Greyson.

I really liked that story and the previous one too. Integrity and loyalty makes good reading and a bit of love is never wrong.

An Act of War by Timothy Zahn brings us behind the scene in the old Republic of Haven as they try to start a war between the Andermani Empire and Manticore. It all starts with an interstellar swindler and scoundrel getting caught. The whole thing is quite entertaining and teaches us a bit of what went on behind the scene during the war. This also continues a story from the previous anthology With One Stone

“Let’s Dance” by David Weber is by far the longest story and it tells another of Honor Harrington’s Silesian adventures. It is pretty good if you have not read any of the other ones. I found it a bit familiar even if we had Manpower and genetic slavery with the pirates this time. Dancing with the Ballroom is entertaining and I enjoyed Honor’s award.

Lastly there is a technical paper on starship armor by Andy Presby that might be of interest to fans but felt more like padding to me.

I miss a forth story but otherwise it is okay so even if I feel slightly disappointed I warmly recommend it.

Honor Harrington is arguably the most popular character in modern science fiction, but there are many other stories in the Honorverse besides those in which she has the central role. This fifth volume in the popular Worlds of Honor series explores some of those stories with the help of such top writers as best-selling author Jane LIndskjold, New York Times best-selling author Timothy Zahn, and more—including an all-new Honor Harrington adventure, set in her younger years, when a mob of space pirates made the mistake of tangling with Commander Harrington. That was a fatal mistake—for the pirates . . .